Statement of Faith #8-Speaking in Tongues

Official Assembly of God Statement of Faith #8-The baptism of believers in the Holy Ghost is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives them utterance. The speaking in tongues in this instance is the same in essence as the gift of tongues, but it is different in purpose and use.

As I stated in lesson 7, the gift of tongues is one of many gifts from the Holy Spirit. In our church, we believe that at the time of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the believer, now filled with the Holy Spirit, will begin to speak in unfamiliar words. This is the initial physical evidence of infilling of the Holy Spirit.

We also believe there are a couple of other situations when tongues will be spoken. The first, as stated above, is as the initial evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Another is during an individual's personal prayer time.(Romans 8:26,27) It is a time when the Holy Spirit, prays through our mouths in a language we do not know. It is a submission of ourselves to service and the Holy Spirit prays what He wants prayed because our minds and thoughts are removed from the prayers. One could wonder then, what the purpose is in allowing the Holy Spirit to do this when the Holy Spirit can do it without us. That gets back to the original idea of why we pray at all. It is because it is something God asks us to do, it is an act of submission and obedience and love to Him.

The third situation where tongues are spoken is when, on occasion, the Holy Spirit will speak through someone in the church to minister to the entire church(1 Corinthians 14:26,27). It is when this is done, when a message is given in tongues to the church body in attendance, that an interpretation in a familiar language will also be provided, often through a completely different person. This is done to edify the people. I will never forget the first time I experienced this. We were standing in a church service during praise and worship when a loud voice came from the balcony. I looked up to see a friend of ours speaking, but it was obvious it was not of himself. His voice was a bit different and he was not speaking in English. After he was done, the church attenders waited in silence for several moments and then, from across the building, another member spoke in English an interpretation of what had been said. Also, On Monday evenings we used to get together with a small group of believers for praise and prayer. It was a mixed group of people and some spoke only Spanish. A friend of mine was ministering and praying in tongues over a Spanish speaking believer. There was another there who spoke Spanish that was interpreting my friends tongues into Spanish for the person being ministered over.

It is important for us to remember that God still works in the Christian church today in the same ways He did in the early church. God would not take away a gift for the early church from us now. In 1 Corinthians 14:39, the bible warns, "Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues." This is one of the many gifts of the Holy Spirit, not more important than any others but just as important. It should be welcomed and encouraged.

"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. " Acts 2:4